The present invention relates to a hinge, in particular for pieces of furniture, with an arm which can be attached to the body of the piece of furniture, connected to a portion of hinge that oscillates through two equalizers housed on transversal pins, of whichxe2x80x94in the portion of one of its oscillation axesxe2x80x94one equalizer has a projecting part forming a lever arm, and with an elastic member that stresses the projecting part of the equalizer so as to cause a thrust in a closing direction on the oscillating hinge portion.
Closing devices applied to hinges for pieces of furniture are known, to which there are coupled deceleration systems for decreasing the door speed just before it reaches its closed position, so as to prevent irritating noise and shock.
DE 31 20 201 A1 discloses a hinge for pieces of furniture of this type, with a piston housed in the hinge arm, on which there slides a cylinder pulled by a lever integral with an equalizer and braked by a coating of its walls that increases its friction coefficient. Such known deceleration devices do not usually have a complex and high-precision structure, but they do take up much space in the hinge arm, thus making the arrangement of fixing and adjustment elements difficult.
Thus, the object of the invention is to prove a hinge with a closing device of the type described above, which should have a not very expensive and bulky deceleration system.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing one of the equalizers with a second projecting part on which a second elastic member acts to exert a thrust that, for an oscillation portion close to the closed position of the oscillating portion of the hinge counteracts the thrust exerted by its first elastic member.
The use of a second elastic member that directly acts on an essential element of the hinge, like an equalizer avoids the need of having to use additional elements connected to such essential elements which effect the braking by interacting between themselves. This results in the use of fewer components thus allowing a saving in space.
The two projecting parts on which the two elastic members respectively act can be suitably arranged on the same equalizer.
I a preferred embodiment, the second projecting part consists of a cam obtained on the U-bent sides of the equalizer that is closer to the body of the piece of furniture, and it comprises a first portion that is concentric to the oscillation axis, which in the hinge closing direction is followed by a Portion at increasing distance up to an edge, beyond which the distance rapidly decreases.
Just before the closed position of the hinge, the elastic contrast member abuts against the decreasing distance portion just beyond the farthest edge from the oscillation axis, so as to exert a thrust in the closing direction that adds to the thrust exerted by the first elastic member.
The second elastic contrast member can suitably consist of a torsion spring housed on a transversal pin in the hinge arm, with a fixed shank abutting against the back of the hinge arm and the other shank acting upon the equalizer cam.
A further embodiment provides for the torsion spring to have a symmetrical shape, with the fixed shank consisting of two central shanks connected to one another by slot and with two side shanks that abut against the equalizer cams.
The fixed shank of the elastic member can abut against the lower portion of a screw screwed into the back of the hinge arm, which allows adjusting its pre-compression force and thus, the exerted contrast force.